


smitten

by lovelqces



Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, but so am I, helen is a disaster bi, mundane!aline, mundane!helen, mundane!mark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 17:45:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14774247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelqces/pseuds/lovelqces
Summary: helen blackthorn's coffee shop was calm and relaxed, until aline penhallow wanted a frappuccino and helen just cant stop thinking about her.





	smitten

Helen Blackthorn was going through the motions of her everyday life at the quaint little coffee shop she owned and ran called _Wrangel Island_. It was a fairly easy morning at the shop, so she was content in just filling the few orders and enjoying the slow day.

Helen then heard the telltale bell chiming the entrance of a new customer, and rounder her way to the front cashier of the shop. Before her stood a beautiful woman with dark black hair and the most dazzling smile.

“Good afternoon!” Helen said a little too loud, realizing as she said it, that it was in fact, only ten in the morning.

The woman laughed- a light airy sound that made Helen’s heart leap- and said “Good _afternoon_ to you, too.”

Helen thought she was going to drop dead just then.

Pushing away all thoughts of embarrassment, she managed to say, “What would you like today?”

She began to tell her order, but Helen admittedly did not get a bit of it, as she was too busy being a “disaster bi” as her brother would call her. But how could she help it?

Helen thought to herself _, is this the universe is testing me? will this beautiful woman cause me to lose focus and become my only thought? because if so, im failing._

She then realized that the goddess herself had fallen silent and Helen hadn’t gotten even the slightest idea of what she just ordered.

Luckily, Mark, her brother, had predicted this turn of events, and had written her order on a notepad that he then slid to Helen. She picked it up, scanned its contents, smiled at the woman and nodded without speaking her confirmation, because she didn’t trust herself to not make herself look like an idiot.

Just then remembering, Helen said, “Your name?” Technically, it wasn’t really necessary considering she was the only customer in the shop at the moment, and she could just merely hand her the drink when it was finished- but Helen couldn’t stand another moment of not knowing this woman’s name. Why it became so important to her? She had no idea.

“Aline.”

_Wow,_  Helen thought,  _fitting. A beautiful name for a beautiful person._

Helen wrote the name on her cup, and gave her one last smile as she walked to fill her order. Mark trailed behind her laughing the whole time.

“Never in my life have I seen a person lose so much control over themselves due to someone they think is attractive.” Mark said.

_“Would you shut up”_  she hissed at him, while he continued to laugh. Helen quickly fell back into her trance of thinking about her. Little things, like how she noticed how Aline’s hair fell onto one shoulder, or how her eyes lit up when she smiled. Or how-

“By the Angel, Helen! Snap out of it you’re going to break the blender!” Mark shouted as Helen realized she nearly just dropped the cup along with the ice into the blender. “Just let me do it, since you’re so smitten from talking to a pretty lady for three minutes.”

“No one says ‘smitten’ anymore, Mark” Helen retorted.

“Why not? They should. I think it has got a lovely connotation to it.” Mark said as he finished off the frappuccino Aline had ordered. “Now go take this to her, you smitten fool.”

Helen laughed and rolled her eyes as she walked back to the front to see Aline reading an Oscar Wilde novel at a stool along one of the counters.

She desperately tried to ground herself and said, “One vanilla bean frappuccino with a shot of raspberry for Aline!”

Aline’s head popped up from her novel and she smiled that radiant smile and said, “Ah thank you…”

It took her a minute to realize Aline was asking for her name. “Helen! I’m Helen!”

Aline’s smile somehow managed to brighten. “It was a pleasure meeting you.” She said as she took the drink from Helen’s outstretched hand. Helen thought she was going to combust when their fingers brushed.

When the door shut behind Aline, Helen rested her chin on one hand and sighed heavily. She heard Mark walk behind her and whisper  _“smitten.”_

                                                                                •❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

The next day was another slow one, which would start causing a few problems if business continued this way, but for now it felt like a vacation from the usual chaos. Helen idly chatted with her brother while they waited for customers.

“Do you think she thought I was weird? Or that I was-” Helen started but was cut off before she started ranting  _again._

“Helen, I’m nearly certain she liked you. I mean, why else would she ask for your name? Do you ever ask for your barista’s name?” Mark said.

“No, because I _am_  the barista,” Helen said.

“In this situation, yes, but generally, people don’t do that unless they’re into you,” He said.

Then, as some brilliant miracle of the universe, Aline walked into her coffee shop for the second day in a row.

“You’re back!” Helen could barely contain her surprise.

“Of course! I couldn’t bare to see a pretty face like yours only once.” Aline said as she dropped a wink. Before Helen could process any part of that, Aline said, “I’ll get the same as yesterday.”

Helen came back to her senses, smiled, and said, “Coming right up,” with a wink back to her.

She walked back to make the order, and Mark- who had been eavesdropping- said, “Oh my god, Helen. I told you I knew what I was talking about. _Oh my god.”_  Helen tuned him out as she finished the drink and made an impulse decision. Underneath where she wrote ‘Aline’ she wrote her phone number, followed by a tiny heart.

She rounded her way back to Aline and handed her the drink the same moment Aline slid a napkin towards her. Aline took the drink and Helen picked up the napkin which she then saw had Aline’s phone number scrawled on it.

Aline evidently noticed Helen’s number on the cup and said, “Well it looks like i’ll talk to you soon.”

“Looks like it,” Helen said, still barely comprehending any of what just happened. As Aline turned to leave, she winked one last time at Helen, and walked out the door.

Helen wholeheartedly believed that this girl would be the death of her.

**Author's Note:**

> hiya i love haline they make me so <3333 
> 
> see me on tumblr: https://lovelqces.tumblr.com/


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